Unethical Business Research

Unethical Business Research Unethical business research can be described as many things. From asking inappropriate questions, to using participant information for unintended purposes such as selling goods or services, these acts have caused major scandals in the business world. Good business ethics are the foundation in which a company is built on. All businesses have a code of conduct that is set out by human resources and upper management. This code will set the behavior expectations for employees in their daily tasks and projects for the company. Alliance Capital is among one of major companies that conducted unethical research in the early 2000’s. Before their downfall they caused damage financially and personally, which had effects nationwide.
People Involved Alfred Harrison was the vice chairperson of Alliance Capital, and the manager of Florida’s pension plan account (Lawyershop.com, 2003). He used a “V-method” approach to investing, which lead Alliance to the purchase of 4.9 million shares of Enron in late 2001. Frank Savage, a director of Alliance was another key member involved in the company’s unethical acts. Frank was also a member on Enrons’ board and many suspected that he pressured Alliance to purchase the shares even though the company was on the downfall. The actions of both these individuals caused Alliance to be charged with "breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary trust, negligence, gross negligence.”
Injured Parties and Effects The purchase of shares in Enron by Alliance caused Florida State’s Pension Plan to lose over $334 million after they bought and sold Enron stocks right before Enron declares bankruptcy. The state of Florida was affected by this illegal late trading done between Alliance and Enron. This scandal caught the…...

Similar Documents

...Readings that discusses unethical business research conduct that has resulted in individuals or a firm being convicted, or at least tried for, this conduct. Some examples include the following:
• Asking inappropriate questions
• Skewing research results
• Failing to maintain participants’ confidential information
• Using participant information for unintended purposes such as selling goods or services
Summarize the article you researched.
Write a 750-word paper in which you address the following questions:
• What unethical research behavior was involved?
• Who were the injured parties?
• How has the unethical behavior affected the organization, the individual, and society?
• How could the unethical behavior be avoided or resolved?
In the 1932 case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a 40-year project administered by the US Public Health Service in Macon County, Alabama. The study consisted of 400 men being promised free treatment for an epidemic of bad blood in their county. The treatment was withheld from the men and was never given. The study was tested on a group of African American men who were told they had bad blood and never received standard treatment for syphilis,. Syphilis is a sexual transmitted disease. It can lead to a range of painful, chronic and deadly symptoms, such as infection in the nerve-system, or cardiovascular-complications. Even-though the cure of penicillin was available the men were never informed of the research design or it's risk......

...Unethical Business Research Conduct
The foundation of any research is trust. Professionals, organizations, and the public must be able to trust that research is being reported honestly, accurately, and free from bias. Questionable research misconduct can include poor data management, the failure to share data, questionable data selection methods, inadequate supervision of those conducting the research, and fiscal mismanagement ("Research Misconduct", 2012).
Recently a large case of research fraud was brought against Dr. Kipak K. Das by the University of Connecticut. The allegations of research fraud involve 26 articles published in 11 different journals claiming the health benefits of drinking red wine. According to the article, “University Suspects Fraud by a Researcher Who Studied Red Wine”, the university received anonymous allegations in January 2009 about irregularities in Dr. Das’ research. An investigation into Das’ research articles revealed 145 instances of fabrication and falsification of data (Wade, 2012). Allegations received by the university reference lab members manipulating figures, often at the request of Dr. Das, and digitally manipulating the experiments (western-blot images) done in the studies.
The fabrication and falsification of the research data will have a negative impact on Dr. Das’ reputation as a respectable doctor, could tarnish the name of the University of Connecticut, could harm those that rely upon this research data, and could also......

...Unethical Research Practices
Unethical research is commonly found within pharmaceutical companies. In a hurry to get new drugs to market, companies will often cut corners during the research process. Pharmaceutical companies will spend millions of dollars on drug research, but very little on unethical drug promotion (Parmar, Jalees, 2004). The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of how unethical research practices can lead to death from both past and present case studies.
Present
Rizwan Rahim Ahmed and Dr. Ahmed Saeed conducted a case study concerning ethical and unethical pharmaceutical marketing practices in Karachi City, Pakistan (Ahmed, Saeed, 2012). The results were very alarming to the world. The study indicated that doctors, hospital administrators, and pharmacies were receiving kickbacks from the pharmaceutical industry for prescribing their drugs to patients. The case study concluded that participants had different levels of blame. For example, the study shows that four out of five doctors were receiving money from these companies. Still today the government of Pakistan turns a blind eye to this type of unethical behavior. Research found that doctors were prescribing unnecessary drugs to patients regardless of the medical outcome. The more medicine they prescribe, the more money they would receive from the pharmaceutical companies.
The study concluded that this type of unethical practice is common throughout the world but severe with regard to......

...Unethical Business Practices
From 1999 to 2006, John Mackey used the internet to post inaccurate information concerning one of his competitors. He was attempting to drive down stock prices, buy out his competitor thereby eliminating competition, and finally create a monopoly.
Normally making business profit is not a bad thing. One technique is for a business to cut prices, thereby becoming more competitive -- a plus for the consumer. Another is when a company or CEO uses devious tactics or unethical means to influence the market for corporate or personal profits.
According to a statement made by Brian Schactam from CNBC, “John Mackey used a pseudonym on financial message boards to bash rival Wild Oats as a bad business not worth its stock price.” Those inaccurate postings concerning Wild Oats caused their stock prices to fall and deterred other investors from buying the stock. That tactic is highly unethical.
An article on Daily Finance blogging dated July 11, 2007 cites the following statements and sources made concerning Whole Food CEO:
“John Mackey often criticized Perry Odak, Wild Oats' former CEO, who resigned last year. "While Odak was trying to figure out the business and conducting expensive 'research studies,' to help him figure things out, Whole Foods was signing and opening large stores in OATS territories," Rahodeb wrote in 2005. "Odak drove off most of the long-term OATS natural foods managers" and brought in executives who "didn't know too......

...Introduction
Unethical business research continues to be a problem facing corporate America in the 21st century. According to Cooper & Schindler, (2011, ethics are norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about our behavior and our relationships with others. The fundamental goal of ethics in business research is to adhere that in the end, the research outcome does not cause harm or grieve to the parties involved. Unethical business activities include but not limited to; violating non-disclosure agreement, breaking participant confidentiality agreement, using invoicing irregularities, avoiding legal liability, misrepresenting results, pervasive, and deceiving people (Cooper & Schindler, 2011).
This paper talks about inside trade case study--Galleon Group’s founder Raj Rajaratman unethical business research that was discovered recently. Author of the paper focuses on; unethical research behavior involved, injured parties as a result to the research, Unethical behavior effect on the organization, the individual, and society, and Avoiding or resolving unethical behavior.
Unethical research behavior
Insider trading is one of the examples of unethical business research. Recently, Galleon Group--a well-respected and promising hedge fund’s founder Raj Rajaratman found himself making headlines for similar unethical researches. Along with him—his acquaintance Rajiv Goel, Intel managing Director and Rajatman’s college roommate (Wall Street Journal article (Kalita......

...Business Research Ethics
Byron C. Nelson
March 2, 2013
RES 351
University of Phoenix
Prof. Lara Lucas
Unethical Research
Two employees of Lee Research of Lenexa Kansas were indited for falsifying research information. The research company was contracted by Schering/Plough, a subsidiary of Mereck & C, to conduct clinical trails of a new allergy medication. The trials were conducted from January 2010 to May 2010. Dr. Wayne Spencer, a licensened physician and the principle investigator of the study, along with Lisa Sharp, the director of clinical trials at Lee Research Institute were named in the inditement.Dr. Spencer and Sharp were each charged with one case of conspiracy, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of falsifying information required by the Food and Drig Administration (Pharmalot.com, 2011).
Dr. Spencer and Sharp were terminated by Lee Reasearch Institute following the inditements. Lee Research Institute immediately started an internal investigation of the alledged insedence in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration and Schring/Plough (Kansas City Business Journal, 2011).
The indictment accuses the two former employees of providing false information of the patients participating in the study trials. The study was to be conducted using subjects 50 years old or greater who suffer from ragweed allergies. Employees of the contracted research organization were prohibited from participation in the case study. Dr. Spencer and Sharp......

...UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES OF WALLMART AND NIKE
INTRODUCTION
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., branded as Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's second largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2013, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own a 48 percent stake in Walmart. It is also one of the world’s most valuable companies.
The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51 percent of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company rose from a regional to national giant. By 1988, Wal-Mart was the most profitable retailer in the US and by October 1989 it had become the largest in terms of revenue. Geographically limited to the South and Lower Midwest up to the mid 1980s,...

...Unethical Business Practices
Charles Graham
RES351
March 24, 2014
William Greer
According to the Department of Justice (GlaxoSmithKline to Plead Guilty and Pay $3 Billion to Resolve Fraud Allegations and Failure to Report Safety Data, 2012), in 2012 pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, LLC (GSK) plead guilty to fraud allegations and failure to report safety data, and agreed to pay $3 billion to settle civil and criminal liabilities.
GSK was heavily promoting well known drugs for uses other than what they were intended, and approved for by the FDA. These promotions for non-intended uses were being made through back channels, such as directly to physicians through sales representatives, speakers at sponsored events, as well as advertising in medical journals. GSK had been circumventing the approval process to increase sales of drugs such as Paxil, and Wellbutrin, both anti-depressants. The company had neglected to provide information to the FDA regarding specific findings in research done after the drugs had gone to market. In one medical journal, GSK had published a misleading article that was contrary to actual findings.
The misleading claims of GSK to healthcare providers regarding the effectiveness of specific drugs have had far reaching affects, of which cannot be immediately determined. Several of the medications are well known and branded for anti-depressants, and diabetes. According to the US Department of Justice release, GSK had made unsubstantiated claims......

...Unethical Business Research Conduct
A lawsuit brought upon city Assessor Bill O'Brien by a tax investigation firm, Tax Data Solutions (TDS) that he used last year states that he violated his contract and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (Smith, 2010). Between 2006 to 2009 the city of New Haven hired the company to investigate people and businesses that owe for vehicle or personal property taxes. O'Brien is accused of adding accounts to the grand list, withholding payment for accounts researched by TDS, reducing personal property assessments, and even removing accounts added by the Assessor before him (Smith, 2010).
The unethical research behavior that was involved in this case was financial misconduct. By removing and adding accounts as well as misconstruing numbers in the accounts he is squandering the work done by the tax investigation firm. Misrepresentation is also involved because by distorting the numbers he is providing falsified data to the taxpayers of the city as well as the government. Not only does this hurt the tax payer, but by falsifying numbers it can make the city look more profitable than it really is.
The injured parties in the lawsuit was the TDS firm because they were not paid for their work, their work was falsified and their contract was broken. Though not in the lawsuit the taxpayers of the city are also victims because they are being lied to by their Assessor. The unethical behavior has affected the business by costing them money in......

...Effects of Unethical Behavior
Anita Pleasant
ACC/291
March 10, 2014
J. Leanne Janis
Is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Working?
Today’s corporate executives are well aware of the consequences and punishments they face since the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act in 2002, but is the law enough of a deterrent for senior management? Over the past decades many CEO’s have risen to their positions with little training in accounting or finance, and it makes one wonder about the type of decision-making process these non-accountants employ when making financial reporting decisions. The SOX Act was implemented to protect the financial markets in the United States by encouraging corporate officers to become more involved in financial reporting decisions, and holding them more responsible for the data within each financial statements their company issues (Maroney & McDevitt, 2008). Can these in individuals without the necessary accounting training understand and make the accurate financial statement adjustment decisions required by the SOX Act?
The Tyco International scandal is a prime example of how a chief executive officer (CEO) who obtained his position by rising up through the company used unethical behaviors which almost destroyed the organization. Even though the scandal occurred before the SOX Act was enacted, it demonstrates how unethical behaviors can affect a business. Dennis Kozlowski started working for Tyco in 1975 as an assistant controller; he joined the......

...Unethical Business Research Conduct
There are several reasons a company can be found guilty of an unethical/illegal crime. Whether they were asking inappropriate questions; skewing research results; failing to maintain participants’ confidential information; using participant information for unintended purposes such as selling goods or services. The list could continue through a long dissertation. On Monday, July 2, 2012 an unprecedented conviction for Health Care Fraud Settlement was reached. GlaxoSmithKline LLC pleaded guilty and had to pay $3 billion dollars in criminal and civil liability suits.
GlaxoSmithKline LLC was guilty of a few of these unethical and illegal practices. They not only skewed research results but they also used unethical business practices to sell their goods/prescription medications. They illegally promoted prescription drugs and failed to report certain safety data. They were found to be civically liable for false reporting practices. They also pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal information. Two counts of introducing misbranded drugs and one count of failing to report the safety data they were found civically liable for to the Food and Drug Administration. Misbranding is when the FDA approves a drug for one purpose and a manufacturer promotes it for other uses.
GlaxoSmithKline LLC participated in preparing and distributing a misleading medical journal article that stated that Paxil was effective in the treatment of depression on......

...Unethical Research Behavior
(Name)
RES/351
March 10, 2014
(Teacher Name)
Abstract
Unethical research behavior has shown us the social patterns we portray at any given moment. Dependent on our surroundings, are the effects of the decision we choose to make, or need in making. In this essay, I will discuss the unethical behavior of ‘the bystander effect' and ways to develop possible solutions pertaining to the article I have selected. The article I selected is ‘The Bystander Effect in Medical Care' (Stavert, MD, MBA & Lott, MD, MSHP, 2013).
Unethical Research Behavior
The unethical research behavior involved in this study is ‘The Bystander Effect", to be exact ‘The Bystander Effect in Medical Care'. The bystander effect is "the human tendency to be less likely to offer help in emergency situations when other people are present" (Stavert, MD, MBA & Lott, MD, MSHP, 2013). During inpatient, and outpatient care, the medical professional enrolled to care for patients makes it easier for the medical professional to take a passive role in the treatment. The neglect of clinicians and primary care providers is the direct result of missing leadership.
The parties hurt in this article are the patience receiving inpatient, and outpatient care in a medical treatment facility. Patients become helpless by the lack of diagnosis from the attending physicians, clinicians, care providers, and any additional medical staff. When physicians cannot identify the cause of......

...Unethical Behaviour
http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/115557.aspx
The World Health Organization found children in developing countries who fed on Nestle’s infant-formula had mortality rates five to ten times greater than that of breast-fed children. The problem was Nestle’s sinister campaign of appointing uniformed nurses to distribute the baby formula to poor mothers for free, long enough for lactating mother’s milk to dry up. The mother and child now became entirely dependent on Nestle’s infant formula, and since most of them could not afford the formula, they gave their children an insufficient quantity of the formula. The formula also required clean water, which most mothers could not access.
Nestle again made the news when they sued the country of Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, for six million dollars during the time when it was in the midst of the worst drought in 20 years. Nestle wanted compensation for its stake in the Ethiopian Livestock Development Company (Eldico), which it obtained through an investment in Schweisfurth, a German company. Ethiopia had nationalized Eldico and sold it for a profit. Nestle finally reached a settlement of $1.5 million with Ethiopia, the maximum the government could afford.
Recently, Nestle has made headlines again for getting caught spying on Attac, a non-government organization. Nestle has been ordered to pay compensation to the organization.......

...Nike Inc.
Nike’s Unethical Business Practices
Nike’s Unethical Business Practices
Love those Nike shoes your wearing? Have you ever thought how they were made, who made them, and at what price they were made at? I bet you probably don’t. I bet that you see those Nike shoes at the store, and think to yourself, “oh I like those shoes, I have to have them,” and then buy them. What you don’t know is that those pair of shoes you just bought were probably made in a third world factory by employees who are probably working in harsh working conditions. These factories are not owned and operated by Nike, but contracted by Nike. Nike chooses to locate the majority of their production in such countries because of the abundance of cheap labor. Nike contracts factories around the world in effort to get the best product for the cheapest price made, without concern for contracted factory employee. Nike has not been concerned about what goes on in these factories only that the product is made, because Nike is not in the business for Human Rights, they’re in the business of athletic shoes sales.
The Ethical Dilemma
Nike has been accused with human rights violations. The charges that were made against Nike include the following: the use of child labor in factories, unsafe working conditions including exposure to toxic chemicals and the use of machinery without the proper safety precautions, pay below minimum wage and forced overtime hours. The contracted factories Nike uses to produce...